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270 m · Outlying Fell — South Lakeland · Birketts to bag nearby, parking, buses, my hikes and live summit weather.

Outlying Fell — South Lakeland

Claife Heights

Claife Heights at 270m (886ft) is the long, forested ridge on the western shore of Windermere, giving fine views of the lake through the trees.

270 m
Height
+0
Bonus Birketts
See routes & download GPX →

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270 mOutlying Fell — South Lakelandsummit is not a Birkett top+0 bonus Birketts within 3 km

Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast

Modelled guidance for the 270 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

On the summit today (Tue 28 Jul): 18° to 16°C, gusts to 24 mph, 4.4 mm of rain forecast.

Tue 28 Jul
🌧️
18° / 16°
💨 24 mph
🌧 4.4 mm (82%)
Wed 29 Jul
🌦️
18° / 14°
💨 24 mph
🌧 0.1 mm (89%)
Thu 30 Jul
🌦️
16° / 7°
💨 27 mph
🌧 0.6 mm (73%)
Fri 31 Jul
🌤️
17° / 3°
💨 24 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (65%)
Sat 1 Aug
🌦️
17° / 5°
💨 15 mph
🌧 2.1 mm (41%)
Sun 2 Aug
☁️
19° / 8°
💨 18 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (27%)
Mon 3 Aug
🌦️
20° / 8°
💨 12 mph
🌧 0.2 mm (16%)

Forecast snapshot from 28 Jul 2026, 04:58 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 270 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.

Pro mountain forecasts: MWIS · Met Office mountain forecast

About the walk

Key information

Claife Heights

Claife Heights, a Lake District fell
Photo: Stephen Dawson, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Claife Heights at 270m (886ft) is the long, forested ridge on the western shore of Windermere, giving fine views of the lake through the trees. Wainwright included it in his Outlying Fells guide, noting its pleasant woodland walks and the excellent lake views. The Victorian ferry from Windermere allows a circular route via the lakeshore path — one of the most popular low-level walks in South Lakeland.

Classifications & hill data
Outlying Fell
South Lakeland
Marilyn
270 m
Height
886 ft
In feet

Map & nearby Birketts

Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right). Parking positions are approximate.

Nearest parking: Church Bridge, Troutbeck (limited), about 6.1 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.

Birketts near Claife Heights (within 3 km)

No bonus Birketts within 3 km — every Birkett near here is already a Wainwright summit, so just enjoy the walk.

Terrain & access

A 270 m top with a mapped path to within about 7 m of the summit. The summit is not on CRoW open access land, and the direct approach crosses land that is neither access land nor a right of way — there may be no public right to the top, so check access before you go.

Computed from open data, not walked — pathless ground needs confident navigation, and mapped paths, barriers and access boundaries can be incomplete. Data © OpenStreetMap contributors (via Overpass); Natural England CRoW Access Land; DoBIH; Copernicus GLO-30. See the terrain & access report for how this is worked out across all 145 fells.

Best parking to hike Claife Heights

Where we have the data, each parking spot also shows the nearest public toilets and facilities (cafés, pubs, shops).

Church Bridge, Troutbeck (limited) — 6.1 km from summit (straight line)
For Wansfell, Troutbeck Tongue and the Ill Bell ridge via Garburn Pass.
Directions
🚺 Public toilets (423m) — Free🚺 Public toilets (1904m) — Free☕ The Old Post Office
Ambleside (various paid) — 7.2 km from summit (straight line)
Town car parks — Fairfield Horseshoe, Wansfell, Loughrigg from the door.
Directions
🚺 Ambleside Library (142m) — Free · Accessible🚺 Public toilets (316m) — Free☕ Sheila's Cottage☕ The Schelly☕ Costa🍺 Royal Oak🍺 The White Lion🍺 The Ambleside Inn🏪 Rohan🏪 Trespass🏪 F. W. Tyson🏪 Go Outdoors Express

Positions are approximate — zoom the map to confirm. Lakeland car parks fill before 9am on fine weekends.

Tip: pan and zoom the interactive map at the top of this page to spot other potential parking near your route.

Buses to Claife Heights from Penrith / Ambleside / Windermere

Stagecoach 555
Kendal – Staveley – Windermere – Ambleside – Rydal – Grasmere – Thirlmere (Wythburn & Swirls) – Keswick
Catch it from: Windermere · Ambleside
Year-round, roughly hourly. The backbone bus of the A591 — ideal for Helvellyn (Wythburn/Swirls), Fairfield, the Central fells and anything around Grasmere/Rydal. From Penrith, take the X4/X5 to Keswick and change.
Stagecoach 508 “Ullswater Bus”
Penrith – Pooley Bridge – Aira Force – Glenridding – Patterdale (summer services continue over Kirkstone Pass to Troutbeck and Windermere)
Catch it from: Penrith · Windermere (summer only)
The key route from Penrith for the Eastern and Far Eastern fells: Helvellyn from Glenridding, Place Fell, the Hartsop fells. The summer Kirkstone extension drops you at the pass for Red Screes and Caudale Moor.
Stagecoach 505 “Coniston Rambler”
Windermere – Ambleside – Skelwith Bridge – Hawkshead – Coniston
Catch it from: Windermere · Ambleside
Daily in season (reduced winter service). Best access for the Coniston fells (Old Man, Wetherlam group).
Stagecoach 516 “Langdale Rambler”
Ambleside – Skelwith Bridge – Elterwater – New Dungeon Ghyll – Old Dungeon Ghyll
Catch it from: Ambleside · Windermere (change at Ambleside)
The Langdale bus — Pikes, Bowfell, Crinkle Crags, Pike o' Blisco all walkable from the Dungeon Ghyll stops. Seasonal frequency varies; check before relying on the last bus back.

Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com or Traveline before relying on a last bus.

Other fells near Claife Heights

Maps & guidebooks for Claife Heights

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